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CAW frustrated by lack of progress in GM talks

Labour concession talks between General Motors of Canada and the Canadian Auto Workers are progressing slowly largely because there's so many parties involved, says the union president, who predicts they may yet continue several more days.

Sun., May 17, 2009

Labour concession talks between General Motors of Canada and the Canadian Auto Workers are progressing slowly largely because there's so many parties involved, says the union president, who predicts they may yet continue several more days.

"What we consider close and what all the parties consider close is what separates us," CAW president Ken Lewenza said in a phone interview mid-day Sunday. "This isn't two-sided bargaining."

Both the Ontario and federal governments, along with the U.S. Treasury Board and U.S. Auto Task Force, are additional players as the union aims to negotiate a cost-saving deal that will unlock $6 billion in financial assistance for the deeply-troubled automaker.

"(The governments) obviously have the power to drive it or the power to create discussion, because without restructuring funds from the government, there's not much to restructure," Lewenza said.

A midnight-Friday deadline imposed by the governments passed without a deal being reached. Officials have since told Lewenza they'll allow discussions to continue "at least a couple more days" as long as there's no sign of either side leaving the table.

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Having never experienced such multi-faceted bargaining in its history, the CAW team is feeling frustrated "even to the point of despair," Lewenza said.

"The reality is the intervention of government makes the conditions of bargaining terrible in comparison to any bargaining we've ever experienced."

What's more, he believes the union has already made greater concessions than were asked of Chrysler when they worked out a similar deal to access bailout funds last month.

"We've already made our fair share of compromises," Lewenza said. "(The parties) are being a bit overzealous, but there's so much at risk here we've just got to keep working at it."

Key areas of contention continue to be around wages, pensions and benefits, he said.

Chrysler reached a deal with union members last month that cut the company's labour costs by $19 an hour.

GM is in an even worse financial position, largely in part to a ballooning pension deficit.

At one point Saturday evening, Lewenza thought a deal was within reach, but it slipped away and so the teams decided to stop talks at 1 a.m. so everyone could rest. They had bargained straight through the night since failing to meet the Friday deadline.

CAW members last ratified a deal with GM in March, less than a year after settling a three-year contract, but the two governments almost immediately said it didn't do enough to cut costs.

Without a stringent deal, the worst-case scenario for GM would see the company's Canadian assets liquidated.

GM has until the end of May to provide governments in Canada and the United States with a restructuring plan that could include filing for bankruptcy protection.

GM Canada currently employs 7,500 hourly workers at a car plant in Oshawa, a transmission plant in Windsor and an engine plant in St. Catharines. It also operates the GM-Suzuki joint-venture CAMI plant in Ingersoll, also in southern Ontario.

A truck plant in Oshawa closed Thursday and the Windsor transmission factory will be shut next year.

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